Too hot to garden...
Strawberry Hill Roses
The never-ending story of Goldilocks the Summer Gardener. On the first day it was too hot to garden properly. The next day it too windy. On the third day she was too busy. Then the fourth day was too hot again. The fifth day was too windy - and too hot... When will it be 'just right'? Hmm...
Saturday 13th February
Today I started weeding along the boundary of my beautifully cared-for garden with next-door's horribly annoying nearly head-high weed mess. I pulled out huge fat-hen weeds that were flowering and threw them as far away as I could. I've created a weed-free strip which Non-Gardening Partner is going to help me keep clear with the dreaded chemical spray, I'm afraid. It was very hot - I drank lots of water.
Sunday 14th February
I am such a wimp. This morning Non-Gardening Partner took me up for my first flight. It started out OK, and the views over the wide braided Waimakariri River were awesome (when I opened my eyes to peep). I've never experienced anything quite so amazing. The weather was perfect, flying conditions smooth as... But... I was really, really scared of the 'height', too scared to look, and that was really silly. So NGP kindly flew me back to the aerodrome. Oh dear.
Non-Gardening Partner and Plane
Since it was Valentine's Day, and too hot to garden properly, I tucked into some chocolates and read my book on the Adirondack chair. Up in the blue NGP flew to the Southern Alps and over the Tussock-Lands track that my friend and I get so red-faced plodding up. I wish I'd been brave enough to continue the journey. Maybe I could have been. But I just wasn't. I am soooooo cross with myself. Guess I won't be auditioning for any Amazing Race Seniors Series planned.
Monday 15th February
It was too hot to garden. I watched TV soaps (The Bill) and sorted through some garden photographs.
Wednesday 17th February
Yesterday I did a tiny bit of tough and grunty cleaning-up in the Wattle Woods. So now there are heaps of piles (or piles of heaps, hee hee) of gum bark, Phormium leaves, etc. for the bonfire. At least one of the earlier-planted Phormiums has to be dug out - it's broken flat into pieces, and all the fans have fallen over. I need to dig, trim, and then replant what I can.
Bee on Cosmos
Blast! It's been too hot today to crank up the bonfire. So I've pulled out a few weeds and shifted the hoses. I've also rescued the strawberry plants (don't ask where from or why) and left them soaking in a bucket, and harvested some beans.
The Dogs Don't Mind...
Dog with Ball
The dogs don't seem to mind the heat. We go for walks, throw the tennis balls and the frisbee, and we leap into the pond to cool off. Then we trot back to the house and flop on couches (which all end up smelling of wet dog). So simple really.
Thursday 18th February
After the dog park I did about an hour's weeding, helped by my friend. But it was a four-dogs day, and Jenny the visitor (dog) is a bit old and deaf. So I tied Jenny to one of the purple seats in the shade, while Escher lounged around on the lawn tethered on a long lead.
It was too hot to stay outside for long, though. So we spent the afternoon inside and I worked on a vocal arrangement of "Round Midnight' for my jazz choir - rows of luscious smoothie harmonies, with the occasional edgy note cluster to wake everyone up.
Dogs in the Garden
I was so enraptured I didn't even notice Tiger the cat piddling nearby in an open (and, thankfully, used) plastic sushi container. Rude! My friend, the weeder-helper, bringer of said sushi, also presented me with a florid floating apres-gardening shirt. The passionate swirls of the material rather matched the music in my head. What an amazing song. Yeay for Thelonius Monk!